Site in staff only mode. No need to show signup or login

zogstrip · July 28, 2026, 4:29pm

Thank you @EricGT for your feedbacks I agree we should do our best not to frustrate anonymous users with CTA they can’t do.

This will be fixed by

github.com/discourse/discourse

UX: Hide signup when the site is in read only or staff only mode (#42101)

main ← hide-signup-in-read-only-mode

merged 06:05PM - 28 Jul 26 UTC

ZogStriP

+231 -27

Previously, a site in read only or staff only mode still offered anonymous visit…ors every way in: the header "Sign Up" button, the signup call to action at the end of a topic, the create account link on the login page, and the server-rendered header — including the one on the read only error page itself. Account creation is blocked in both modes, so all of them were dead ends. The banner made it worse by describing what members lose (replying, likes) rather than what an anonymous visitor is actually unable to do. This change gates the JS `canSignUp` getter and its Ruby twin `can_sign_up?` on read only state, which covers every signup entry point at once. `canSignUp` had to drop its `@computed` decorator to do so: with no dependent keys it cached permanently, so the new term would have been evaluated once at boot and then frozen — leaving the button visible if read only mode started later, and hidden long after it ended. The "Log In" button deliberately stays, because staff can still log in during staff only mode. Anonymous visitors now get banner copy naming signup and login instead, a refused login says only staff can log in rather than claiming login is disabled outright, and the email and code login forms show that inline instead of a generic "an error occurred" dialog. It also fixes a pre-existing blank page. Both `/login` and `/signup` aborted the transition when read only, which on a direct URL load left the application template unrendered — and with it the dialog holder, so the explanation never appeared either. They now redirect home when there is no route to stay on, and keep aborting when there is. Meta ref: /t/408703

Topic		Replies	Views
Making About visible to logged out user when login required Support	5	475	May 17, 2023
Call to action - encourage new users to participate UX	25	659	December 17, 2024
Don't see the sign up button UX mobile	21	1001	February 4, 2024
Login disabled in read only mode Support	1	138	January 16, 2025
Login required to see topic info Support	51	8853	March 31, 2021

Site in staff only mode. No need to show signup or login

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